A Good Team
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: Kate's up in New York testifying in a cross-jurisdictions case. After a day of work she and Abbie go for a bite to eat...Then what happens?


_**Okay so I have no idea how to explain this story…It is technically a Law and Order/NCIS crossover, but it is really more of a tribute to Rizzoli and Isles…because Abbie (L&O) and Jane (R&I) are both played by Angie Harmon and Kate (NCIS) and Maura (R&I) are both played by Sasha Alexander. Anyway so I started to wonder what would happen if Abbie and Kate met (because Maura and Jane make such a good team)…anyway this is what it resulted in…I am guessing works a little better if you watch all three, but it is not bad for just a NCIS/Law and Order story either…I'm going to stop rambling now.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kate or Abbie or Jack or Gibbs or Claire or Jamie or anyone else mentioned in this story.**_

_**Spoilers: Yankee White (NCIS), Aftershock (L&O), Monster (L&O)**_

"Can you please state your name and occupation for the court?" Abbie said a little dully. She knew that prepping witnesses for court was important, but that did not make it any less boring when you had been asking the same questions for hours.

"Caitlin Elizabeth Todd," Kate replied calmly. She was reaching the same level of exasperation with the questioning that Abbie was, but she knew that on the stand she would have to remain cool, calm, and in control. So she just considered this practice, "NCIS Special Agent."

"How long have you been with NCIS?" Abbie questioned.

"Three months," Kate told her, internally cringing at how inadequate that sounded.

"And have you had any other law enforcement previous to that?" Abbie asked looking down at the list of questions she had made a note to go over with Kate before the trial. Nearly all of them were checked of, which came as a great relief.

"I was in the Secret Service for a decade," she replied succinctly.

"Good," Abbie told her with a nod, "you have concise answers and exact numbers. You also sound much more confident than you did when we started so that's good. You have to sound confident because if you don't believe what you're saying the jury certainly won't. The defense is also going to try to make your credentials look inadequate, but you can probably get by that by keeping calm and collected. Other than that just answer the questions as truthfully and as simply as possible. Can you do that?"

"I think so," Kate said, then catching sight of Abbie's raised eyebrow clarified, "Yes. Yes, I can."

"Good," Abbie replied with a nod, "Be certain of your responses. Defense attorney's can smell blood."

Kate chuckled, and Abbie smiled in response. "And I'm testifying after the New York detectives?" Kate clarified.

"Yes Lennie and Ed will go first and answer most of the questions about the crime because this is a New York trial, but you have to be prepared to answer those questions to should they come up," Abbie explained, "you are an investigator on the case too, and more importantly you represent NCIS's half of the investigation."

"Right," Kate said swallowing. She was suddenly rather intimidated by the task facing her.

"Don't worry about it," Abbie said a little more kindly, "You'll be fine." Kate smiled appreciatively, and glanced up at the clock as Abbie began gathering her things from behind her desk. Kate had risen too and was about to leave the room when Abbie suddenly spoke again. "You want to grab a bit to eat of something?" she asked looking up from behind her desk, "I mean I kind of took up the last three hours of your life, and neither one of us has eaten."

"Yeah," Kate agreed with a nod, "That would be great."

"Great," Abbie said slightly surprised by Kate's response, but only, she decided, because she asked Jack out to dinner at least once a week and he almost always declined, "Where do you want to go?"

"Your town," Kate pointed out with a shrug, "your choice."

-0- -0- -0-

"Not really what it looks like on the outside is it?" Kate commented as the two women slid into a booth about a half an hour later.

"No," Abbie agreed, "It really doesn't."

The restaurant was on a bottom floor of a skyscraper and from the outside it looked just as dark and dull as the rest of the buildings surrounding it. However on the inside there was a cheerful atmosphere that Kate could only describe as that of a country diner, a description which the décor matched well. There was a low hum of chatter over which the sound of the fire crackling in the corner could be heard. It was very pleasant and reminded Kate of her home growing up.

"How did you find this place?" she asked after a moment, "It's not exactly on the beaten path is it?"

"Jack showed me," Abbie explained, "I think Claire, one of his previous ADAs, showed him, and I have no idea how she found it, but it is sort of a favorite for the members of the District Attorney's Office."

"I can certainly see why," Kate started but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of their waitress.

"Can I get you something to drink?" the woman asked with a warm smile, "Beer, wine, margaritas…"

"I have a trial tomorrow, Linda," Abbie told her with a tired smiled, "and she's one of the witnesses."

"Alright," Linda said changing directions without hesitation, "No alcohol then. We have Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Root Beer, strawberry lemonade, coffee, iced coffee, tea, and iced tea."

"I'll have a strawberry lemonade," Kate said with a polite smile.

"And I'll have the iced tea," Abbie decided.

"Excellent," Linda said with a smile, "I'll bring those right out."

"You don't drink," Kate said idly trying to start a conversation.

"I do," Abbie corrected her, "Just not the night before opening arguments."

"May I ask why?" Kate questioned.

Abbie smiled. "It started back in law school," she explained with a look that was somewhere between reminiscent and bemused, "We were having a mock trial, and my friends and I had had a few drinks the night before, to take the edge off or whatever," she shook her head, "Anyway we woke up late and had to rush to class. I ended up leaving half my preparation material in my dorm, which would have been fine if I did not have to do opening arguments."

"So you lost?"

"No," Abbie said with amusement, "The kid who got picked to be the defendant was hung-over and confessed halfway though opening arguments so he could go back to bed."

"I went to law school for a year," Kate said reminiscently, "I thought it was really dull, and that most of the people had no personality."

"So you became Secret Service," Abbie commented with a hint of sarcasm in her tone, "and that made everything better."

"Yea," Kate said with a shrug, "a lot of the people were still unbelievably boring, but at least there was never a dull moment on the job."

"You're with the Secret Service?" Linda asked interestedly as she set their drinks on the table.

"I was," Kate replied, not particularly bothered by the intrusion in the conversation, "but I'm with NCIS now."

"I didn't know you guys had an office up here," Linda said thoughtfully.

"We don't," Kate said a little stunned, "I'm up to testify in a New York case that crossed into the jurisdiction of our base in D.C." She paused. "How do you know about NCIS?"

"My brothers are in the Marines," Linda explained with a smile, "Do you know what you would like to order?"

"I'll have the shepherd's pie," Abbie said handing Linda her menu.

"Me too," Kate said also relinquishing her menu.

"Excellent," Linda told them, "I'll have those right up." With that she disappeared back into the kitchen.

"You guy really don't have a high profile do you?" Abbie asked relaxing as she took a sip of her iced tea.

"Not really," Kate replied with a shrug, "but it makes it that much more fun to take the bad guys down."

"I know the feeling," Abbie agreed, "I think the best part of my job is when the defendant is on the stand, and he slips up, just a little, but enough for you to know you got him."

Kate nodded. "I haven't ever done it," she said, "but Gibbs, my boss, has this thing in interrogation where he can get suspects to do that."

"Jack's much better at it than I am," Abbie admitted.

"From what I've seen," Kate offered kindly, "you and Jack are both very good at what you do."

"We try," Abbie replied with a smile.

"How long have you two been working together?" Kate asked curiously.

"Just a few years," Abbie said with a slight shrug, "I came in after his previous ADA quit to spend more time with her family."

"Claire," Kate assumed. She was having a little bit of trouble piecing together everyone who worked with Abbie and Jack.

"Jamie," Abbie corrected, "Claire was before her."

"And why did Claire leave?" Kate asked curiously.

"She didn't," Abbie told her, "she was killed by a drunk driver while she was driving Lennie home from a bar." She paused for a moment. "I don't think either Jack or Lennie will ever forgive themselves for that."

"I'm so sorry," Kate stammered a little shocked, "I had no idea."

"I know you didn't," Abbie told her understandingly, "I stumbled onto that particular story the same way you did, except I was talking to Jack."

"That can't have been pleasant," Kate commented. She had met Jack only twice, so far, during her stay, but her first impression had been of a man who knew what he wanted and how to get it and who did not like being messed with. She was also pretty sure that Jack would consider someone messing with the people he cared about the same as messing with him.

"He was actually nice about the whole thing," Abbie replied, thinking back to that conversation, which was still not one she would repeat if she had the choice, "I had only been there a few weeks, and I found one of Claire's cases by mistake. I thought it belonged to one of the other ADAs in the office so I asked Jack, and you can probably fill in the rest of the conversation from there."

"Yea," Kate agreed, "I can."

Abbie smiled at that. She liked Kate. She was not sure why exactly what appealed to her about the other woman…maybe it was that she did not resemble any of the other cops Abbie would with on a day to day basis or maybe it was just that Kate could understand how it felt to be a woman in a man's world.

"Enough about me," Abbie joked lightly, "Let's talk about you. You were in law school for a year but left. Then you joined the secret service, but you left three months ago to join NCIS."

"Well," Kate corrected her, "Technically I left, and then Gibbs offered me a job."

"Same difference," Abbie replied with a shrug, "Why did you leave anyway?"

"So they wouldn't fire me," Kate told her with a grimace, and Abbie looked up slightly stunned.

"Fire you for what?" she asked suspiciously. The lawyer in her was suddenly wondering if her witness had a past the defense would be only to happy to use against her.

"I was sleeping with one of my fellow Secret Service members. We broke it off, and then he got murdered by someone NCIS was already on the case to catch," Kate explained running her fingers though her hair. It had been three months, but the memory still hurt.

"I take it that sleeping the co-workers in against Secret Service policy," Abbie said taking another sip of her drink, and choosing to ignore the memory that was clearly still painful to Kate.

"Yea," Kate said with a nod, "they don't want us distracted while protecting the president."

"I can understand that," Abbie decided.

"So what's your departments policy on sleeping with coworkers," Kate asked, and Abbie nearly spit out her drink. "Oh god," Kate said suddenly realizing how her question must have sounded, "I didn't mean—"

"I know," Abbie assured her as soon as she had swallowed her mouthful of iced tea, "and to answer your question, I'm not sure. I know Jack has been called in front of the disciplinary committee for sleeping with an ADA. I also know his ex-wife was his ADA, and I would not be surprised if he had a thing with Claire."

"Wow," Kate said, "How do you know that much about…"

"My boss's sexual relations with his ADA's?" Abbie finished, for which Kate was very grateful.

"Yea," she said, "that."

"I've spent a lot of nights in the office doing prep work for cases and filing stuff," Abbie explained with a shrug, "I find things in the process of looking for the folders I need. Jack and I agree on many things, but how file cabinets should be organized is not one of them." Kate still looked slightly stunned, so Abbie continued. "If you think about it for a minute I'm sure you can come up with a couple of things about your boss too."

Kate tilted her head to the side considering, and Abbie watched in amusement and the other woman's look of shock turned to a mix of horror and understanding. "Your right," Kate told Abbie, "I can." Abbie raised an eyebrow inviting Kate to continue. "He only dates red heads, he has been married and divorced three times, and I get the suspicion that he has been in a fairly committed relationship with another NCIS agent at some point in time, but I can't prove the last one."

Abbie smiled. "You have time," she teased, "After all you've only been there for three months."

"Yea," Kate said slowly, "That's-"

Linda's sudden appearance with their food save Kate from finishing the sentence, which was good because she had no idea where it might have gone if allowed to continue. "Here you go dears," Linda told them warmly placing the two bowls of shepherd's pie on the table, "Enjoy."

"Thanks Linda," Abbie told their waitress with a smile.

"Anytime," Linda replied patting Abbie on the shoulder, "Now eat up. Here's the check for when your done and don't stay out too late."

"Okay Linda," Abbie agreed.

Kate waited until Linda had disappeared back into the kitchen before speaking again. "So is she like that with everyone?" Kate questioned Abbie, "Or are you just special?"

"Some of both I think," Abbie replied taking a bite of her meal, "she has a certain fondness for the members of the DA's office, but she is also warm and friendly to everyone she serves."

"That's nice," Kate commented, taking a bite of her supper too, "D.C. has always felt a bit cold to me. I would love to have a place like this near me."

"Where'd you grow up?" Abbie asked curiously because she was now certain that Kate had not been born or raised in DC or for that matter any major metropolitan area.

"Indiana," Kate replied, and Abbie nodded. Then the conversation halted for a while as both woman devoted their attention to the food in front of them.

-0- -0- -0-

"Thank you for the meal," Kate said as the two women stepped out onto the street both pulling their jackets a little tighter to ward off the November cold.

"You paid," Abbie pointed out, "I should be thanking you."

"I meant for the company and showing me the restaurant," Kate told her.

"Well," Abbie replied, "Then you're welcome and thanks for picking up the check." Kate just smiled at that. "Well I will see you tomorrow then," Abbie said.

"Yea," Kate replied with a nod, "You will."

"And maybe we could do this again sometime before you leave," Abbie suggested.

"I would enjoy that," Kate told her sincerely, "And I hope this won't be the last case we work together."

"Me too," Abbie agreed with a nod, "I think we make a pretty good team."

_**So I hope you enjoyed it no matter how many of the shows you watch…please leave a review on your way out…Thanks!**_


End file.
